New Restoration Project.. Few Questions

epik

epik

PR Member
I just picked up a 1997 CR125 that I am planning on doing a full restore on. I have been wanting one of these bikes bad for a long time. When I was a kid I was obsessed with the factory honda bikes that MC Lambson and Henry were riding and have wanted to get one ever since. I have done a couple of full restorations in the past that did turn out very nice I would just like some opinions on different ways to go about cleaning up these old parts much more efficiently then I have done in the past ( wire brush and gas :p). I have been looking into cheap sand/media blasters, anyone have any experience using one of these for engine cases, hubs, frame ect.. and if so what kind of media do you use for blasting? I would like to be able to refurb the tank and air box as well, I figure a lot of hand sanding and smoothing will get out most of the color and nicks but what would I use for polishing to get it close to a new finish? Thanks for any info or help!
 
There have been a lot of threads on this subject and a ton of great info from past resto jobs by members.

*scroll back through the Old Guys/Old bikes collumn
*Scroll old bikes section of the old Pitracer archive
*Look up Vintagemx.com (Marks Vintage site) under "message board" and you will find answers for just about every question you have.

Hope this helps.
 
look up soda blasting on youtube, they use a box of baking soda and an air nozzle on an air compressor with some pretty good results, I personally havent tried it yet though.
 
If you are blasting parts to paint, just use aluminum oxide. If blasting to leave bare, glass bead gives a nice finish.
I have one of these cheapo cabinets for small parts -- http://www.harborfreight.com/abrasive-blast-cabinet-42202.html
Bigger parts like frames I take up to Dick's Sandblasting in Strongsville and they blast and prime a frame for like $40.

I also have a soda blaster, and that is nice to use if you want to blast parts without taking them all apart. The soda media just washes away so you don't have to worry about blasting grit all over.

I also have a parts washer, but really what I have the best results with is just putting the parts on a metal pan, soaking them with WD-40, and using a brass brush.

BTW one of my friends has a 1997 CR125 that he bought new from Honda of Troy, and I'll bet it has less than 5 hours on it! All original and hasn't been ridden for at least 6 years. Someday I'll probably take it off his hands.....
 
I also have a 36" blasting cabinet from Harbor freight & it works fine. Same as Pit with Aluminum Oxide for heavy removal and glass bead look great on bare things
like cylinders & cases.

From one of my older post:

Zinc Plating is the way to go!
After many years of sandblasting & painting parts I finally took the time to take a batch in for Zinc Plating.

Started off at Medina Plating but went there discovering they had a $150 minimum charge & had a few more things to get in as the cost
was fairly high so did not leave anything with them plus they wanted me to string small parts on copper wire for racking.

Talked to a buddy who suggested I try Kelly Plating in Cleveland & did. What a cost difference as they did almost 130 parts for only $40.
You need to sand or bead blast them clean first and no need to string on copper wire as they prefer to do this themselves when needed.

Did everything from axels, kickers, chain guides & adjusters to nuts and bolts. Axels still go in ok as plating build up is not that thick.

Parts turned out great as the do bright zinc with blue chromate(clear) over it for added corrosion protection.

Kelly Plating
10316 Madison Ave.
Cleveland, OH 44102
(216) 961-1080
http://kellyplating.com
Think Ray was the guy I spoke with.


WARNING: It starts with one in a few years you will end up with a lot of older bikes....just wait!

Maico Mark
 

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I used a plating company in Canton (that I can't remember the name of) and they lost a few little pieces. I now use Akron Plating for zinc and have been happy with them. We bought a cheap hand held sand blaster and a 50 lb bag of soda at Harbor Freight and we use it for cleaning up all kinds of stuff like carbs, stators and have even deglazed brake shoes with it. Really does a nice job. We tried it on really oxidized plastic but it didn't work as well as I hoped and didn't save any work. The only thing we've found to work on plastic is wet sand progressively finer starting at 400. We don't use any compound to polish we burnish the surface with a buffing wheel. It's a lot of work that really sucks but it's worth the effort.

Cheers,
KRH
 

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NQ1965 said:
That's a sweet looking KX.
Click to expand...

Thanks. That pic was taken a couple years ago, it hadn't even been started yet when that pic was taken. It's a racer/rider so it looks ridden now. I really love that bike.

KRH
 
Did you use a sealer inside the fuel tank?
My KDX tank decals bubbled up soon after install. Haven't had time to do anything with it yet though.

Will this bike be raced at Vintage Days next month?
My 40+ class last year had a racer on an earlier year twin shock KX400. We battled several laps and I was working hard to pass him when my bike gave out.
 
NQ1965 said:
Did you use a sealer inside the fuel tank?
My KDX tank decals bubbled up soon after install. Haven't had time to do anything with it yet though.

Will this bike be raced at Vintage Days next month?
My 40+ class last year had a racer on an earlier year twin shock KX400. We battled several laps and I was working hard to pass him when my bike gave out.
Click to expand...

No, we didn't use sealer. We used the perforated "Wicked Tough" graphics from Speed and Sport. They didn't bubble at all but they will rub off. They should have graphics for your KDX.

Oh yeah, I wouldn't miss Vintage Days. We raced it there the last 2 years. Well, I hope it'll be ready. I'm having a pipe built for it and I sent the original out so he could use it for a pattern so I currently don't have a pipe for it. It was supposed to be a month. It's been four and I'm not real confident I'm going to get my it in time. Plan B is to buy a beater pipe off of ebay and hope for the best. Plan C is building a pipe out of galvanized plumbing pieces or conduit. It really sucks because I have a new Mossbarger reed cage for it (that I bought 4 months ago) that I have been itching to try out. I guess they were the hot set up back in the day, Pro Circuit and Team Kawi used them, I'm told. It has a Works shock and Race Tech springs and emulators so the suspension really works good. I'm pretty sure I have an idiotic amount of money in it but I don't keep track. I rebuilt it all totally stock and have added all these improvements after the fact. I could have saved a lot of money if I would have done it all right from the get go but It's been a labor of love and been a lot of fun so I figure it's money well spent.

We also built a '73 MX360 last year to race on Saturday so we'll be racing that this year as well. I just put an NOS Webco head and NOS Torque Engineering pipe on it. It runs real damn good. All I've got to do is replace the bars and it's ready.

KRH
 
KRH said:
We also built a '73 MX360 last year to race on Saturday so we'll be racing that this year as well. I just put an NOS Webco head and NOS Torque Engineering pipe on it. It runs real damn good. All I've got to do is replace the bars and it's ready.KRH
Click to expand...

Now if we can talk KO into bringing one of his 360's you'll have a good gate match up. For cross country or motocross.
 
Thanks a lot guys! lots of useful info in this thread for sure. This bike is going to be a rider for a few years at least before I go real crazy and make it a display bike for my garage. But it is important for me to look somewhat close to showroom condition. I was out last night picking up all kinds a different cleaning tools and got started de-greasing everything. I have everything apart and have the frame ready for finishing. Bike is a complete filthy mess, the guy was running it so rich there is spooge everywhere. Good thing is I am not finding a bunch of rigged up parts, everything came apart nicely and the cylinder is perfect without much wear at all. I would guess the bike has less hours on it then the 03 I built over the winter, there is just not a bunch of wear on anything so I think it is going to look great once its all cleaned up. At the moment I am really hunting to find a stock 97 seat cover and a works pipe for the bike, PC and fmf are no longer making them in a works finish and I have not found anything decent on ebay. I will post up some pics soon.
 
Throw a post on Mark's Vintage Swapmeet that you are looking for a pipe or one will eventually show up on e-bay.

AMS has a lot of stuff but not sure if they go that new: http://amsracing.com/amsracing.com

Try On The Edge Honda in Amherst as the will do a national dealer search for the seat cover that may be collection dust somewhere!
 
well after countless hours of scrubbing,sanding,painting and greasing the bike is starting to come back together. I didn't go riding this weekend, decided to stay home and try to get this thing finished up. With a little luck I should have time this week to finish bolting everything up.

When I picked it up. From the pics it looks in decent shape as long as you can look past the killer skull graphics and sweet black plastic (one of the guys main selling points). Years of baked on spooge,oil and dirt turned out to be the biggest concern.
1crleft.jpg


The cleaning process begins. It is all fun and games until your 5 hours into it with a wire brush, raw fingers and wreaking of sweat and gunk degreaser.The mess does not look to bad in the photos but believe me this stuff was baked on hard.
3crbackframe.jpg

9dcrdirtyengine.jpg

4crdirtyframe.jpg


This swing arm took me 3 straight nights of sanding to clean up. I wish I would have taken some more before photos to show how haggard some areas of it were. got most of the big gouges and scratches out, finished it with 1000 grit wet and it put a nice satin grain back into it and looks great.
6crscratchedswinger.jpg

7crcleanarm.jpg

8crcleanarmm.jpg


Cleaned up engine and new piston ready to go. Was very clean inside, cylinder very nice and the crank feels nice and tight so I am going to run it for now. Frame freshly painted and drying. I sprayed it with the same valspar heavy duty automotive paint I used on a couple of late model race cars that held up really well to roost and abuse so fingers crossed it works.
9ecrnewpiston.jpg

9crframetree.jpg

9fcrframe.jpg


Getting it pieced back together and how it sits as of yesterday. Still have quite a bit to do, waiting on a few more parts but I should be able to take it for a spin this weekend!
9gcrframeengine.jpg

9hcronstand.jpg
 
KRH said:
Jeez, what's the hurry? :D Looks great, you're knocking it out.

KRH
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haha thanks guys! and yea I am trying to get everything done as quick as I can. I have a big project at work starting next week and I am in the process of launching a website so I am going to have zero free time once all that starts and no time to work on it so my goal was to get it most of it done after this coming weekend.
 
Man, the guy really made a mess of that bike, didn't he? Did he leave any room for the obligatory iron cross? And number 13, how clever.....:D

1crleft.jpg
 
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